Not applicable.
This invention relates generally to the game of golf, and in particular to improvements in course layout and method of play that satisfy the needs of beginning and intermediate players.
Golf is quite often referred to as the fastest growing sport in the world today. It seems more and more people of all ages are taking up the game. More and more golf courses are being built and golf in general is looked on as big business. With all this going for the sport one would be somewhat surprised to learn that a continuing problem confronting the game""s two main keepers, the USGA and the PGA, is how to grow the sport, to retain and encourage newcomers.
The truth is that for every ten people who take up golf eight are no longer playing a year later. For each new course that opens, two established courses are sold for pennies on the dollar, and few equipment manufacturers have been profitable in recent years. Courses are built to help sell real estate, and once the real estate is sold then the course has to find a way to survive on it""s own. Equipment manufactures spend more on advertising than they make in an attempt to win a share of the market. They constantly change their product line in hopes that their new promises to the golfer will prove to be the one that will make their company stand above the rest. Although the reasons for these problems are diverse, there is a solution that would benefit anyone remotely involved with the sport: encourage new players coming into the game to continue playing until they become proficient and competitive.
In order to accomplish this seemingly impossible task one must first understand why the problem exists. Although people take up the sport for many different reasons, they seem to all leave for the same reason. Courses are built today to resemble courses that are used in tour events where the greatest players in the world compete. They are long and difficult, complete with water hazards, multiple sand traps, thick rough, narrow fairways, and severely fast and undulating greens. These are great characteristics for tour players and advanced golfers but for those just learning the game and having to do it in an environment where they are rushed and experience very little success, it""s simply more than they bargained for. So they quit the game.
The answer lies in two areas: better learning facilities and more favorable learning conditions. The present invention, referred to as xe2x80x9cGolf 22,xe2x80x9d is more than just another game, it""s an exiting new golfing experience that offers something to amateur golfers of all playing levels. For the beginner, it offers a learning environment that""s friendly, an environment where players can experience success and a desire to continue to learn and play the game of golf without the frustrations they would endure on a conventional course. For the more experienced player, it offers a great practice environment for the area of golf that""s most importantxe2x80x94the short game. Not many practice areas are available to the advanced amateur golfer who wishes to work on his short game in a competitive way.
The layout of conventional golf courses that may be used for regulation play is constantly being improved, within the playing rules and regulations established by the USGA. In the present invention, an improved golf course is designed to accommodate the needs of beginners as well as more advanced players in a unique layout allowing for many of the variety of strokes encountered on a conventional golf course, but in a compact arrangement that requires less acreage for regulation play and on which twenty-two holes can be played at par in about two hours, thirty minutes.
These advantages are provided, according to the present invention, by a golf course that is laid out in a total of eleven holes integrated within the existing natural rough environs of the site. The holes are arranged for play in a front round of eleven holes and a back round returning in a clockwise pattern over the same eleven holes, with each round being played over a sequence of greens spaced apart along the course. Each green is separated from the rough by an out-of-play (OP) boundary line, and the distance between the center of each green and the out-of-play boundary line is proportional to a predetermined fraction of the spacing distance that separates the center of the green of the hole at play from the center of the preceding green in the sequence. There are no conventional fairways separating the greens. Instead, the greens are integrated within the existing natural rough environs of the site. The roughs are maintained only for aesthetics, and not for play purposes.
Golf balls landing inside the OP boundary on the green are playable, and everything hit outside the OP boundary line is out of play, incurring a penalty. There are no hazards within the green areas, and the rough area lying between greens is not maintained as a playable zone. Instead, all play is from green-to-green (hole-to-hole). The spacing from one green to the next between some holes is limited to a predetermined driving distance that is calculated to allow it to be spanned in a single stroke by a beginner. The spacing distance between other holes is calculated to allow the green to be hit in a single stroke by more experienced players.
A complete round (22 holes) is designed for single stroke play from hole-to-hole. Each hole comprises a green enclosed within an out-of-play (OP) line, a cup, a flag pole with flag and a set of tee boxes. The green area is used for teeing purposes by removing the flag pole when playing the hole. After driving the ball from a selected tee box located on the green, the flag is replaced in the upright position. According to one embodiment of the invention, the ball is hit to the next hole directly over the green where play was just finished. The tee boxes are advantageously positioned on or about the green for making tee shots to the next hole, either to the rear of the cup, on either side of the cup or forward of the cup, thus providing a longer driving distance for more experienced players and a shorter driving distance for beginners. When the tee is placed to the rear of the cup for more advanced players, the green itself is used to make up the net driving distance (from tee to next green) thereby minimizing the total course acreage required for par play. When the tee is placed forward of the cup, the net driving distance is reduced, thus accommodating the needs of beginning players. The tee is placed to the side of the cup to accommodate the needs of average or intermediate players.